Just curious, how many people are still sad about that 2028 pick swap?
Emphasis really should be on the pick swap. People just SO irrational about it. It's a lottery ticket that was simply the cost of doing business. Some day it might just go poof and turn into nothing. Even is the pick does convey, the chances that it turns into a star are not very high.
I mean, if the trade contributes to a title, nobody cares.
But, I'm against "lottery tickets" in trades. Any deal that could result in you swapping the #2 pick for a non-lottery pick (see Nets, Brooklyn) needs to be worth the downside risk. I think Brad probably could have gotten San Antonio to add some different protections if push came to shove.
Obviously it's hard to put a value on the swap itself. Call it a lottery ticket, a wildcard or whatever. My point is that people are not being rational about it. It's being way over valued IMO. Even if it does turn into the second pick, that guy could bust (and the 20th pick could turn into D White or either Williams). There are just too many what if's to be worried about it as much as some are.
Also, maybe Brad/Ime valued D White THAT much? I mean, it's easy to see why. He is the quintessential modern basketball player. Aside from scoring, he's really really good at most everything else. He's oil for an engine. Everything runs so much smoother with D White.
As thinking that we could get White for less, there simply is no basis for that. None whatsoever. Push likely already came to shove and that was the deal. Hey, sometimes you just have to pay retail. Scared money don't make money. All that stuff.
Ultimately, that all comes into the downside risk I mentioned, and how we eventually evaluate the trade. It's a results driven league.
If White helps win us a title, I think you can end evaluation there. If not, then you look at his contributions this season and over the next two years, versus whatever Richardson / Langford / the #1 / the swap turn into. To me, Richardson, Langford and the #1 are all "good risk", because we had a reasonable idea about the relative upsides and downsides of those assets. The only thing we don't really know is that pick swap, along with White's future performance.
If White is a solid piece her for three seasons or more, and the swap pick doesn't convey or it's only a minor move down, then it's going to be classified as a good trade in retrospect.
If White performs as he did in the regular season in Boston (good movement, good defense, poor shooting), but the Celtics are in the lottery and we drop down 10+ spots, it's probably going to be a bad trade.
I definitely understand the concept of a buyer's premium, and it's fair to conclude that we paid that to get a player we really needed. I think it's equally fair for others to withhold judgment until we see where things end up, but who don't feel comfortable with the risk.
Regardless, though, the simplest thing is just to win the title, so that nobody can complain anymore.
Topic: Celts get Derrick White for Richardson, Langford, #1, 2028 pick swap (Read 89400 times)